We just released our first app, a speed dial widget, Sign. We would love to get everyone's feedback and comments. Here's a brief description.
Sign is a unique, gesture based speed dialer for Android which lets you call or text your friends by simply drawing a gesture (signing) directly from your home screen.
Unlike other speed dial options such as direct dial icons or quick dial widgets, you don’t have to worry about accidentally calling somebody just because you inadvertently bump your phone’s screen. Sign is still extremely fast, fun, easy to use, and best of all, you decide how to activate a text or phone call. Simply assign a gesture to any contact. To make a call or text, all you have to do is activate the widget and Sign right from your home screen. Simple and secure, it’s easy to use without even looking at your phone to find contacts or phone numbers.
We developed an enhanced recognition engine to provide a more accurate, consistent, and reliable system to recognize the gestures you assign to your contacts. Sign lets you assign single OR multi-stroke “Signs” to the people you call or text most often.
The free version, Sign Lite, has a limit of 3 Signs
and the full version ($1.99) has unlimited Signs
Give it a try and let us know how you like it. If you have any issues with it at all, please send an email to simplyapplied@gmail.com, we'll respond quickly to fix any issues. Also, we have quite a few ideas for future updates, but suggestions are always welcome.
Thanks,
Simply Applied
Last edited by Simply Applied; July 5th, 2011 at 11:20 AM.
Ok, using a free app called ShootMe (Johan Cloetens), which worked great, I was able to upload some new screenshots. These do a better job of indicating how you Sign from the homescreen than the ones in the market.
I apologize in advance for the size, I really resized them a couple of times but it isn't shrinking them when I post them here.
The contact list with assigned gestures
A single stroke Sign on the homescreen
A multi-stroke Sign on the homescreen
Multiple gestures within one Sign
Call confirmation
The settings screen
Contact Assignment Screen
Last edited by Simply Applied; July 7th, 2010 at 03:04 PM.
A quick note - We've had mostly positive reviews so far and only one significant bug identified - Sign currently only syncs with Google contacts, so if you use EAS/3rd party contact lists, these currently do not show up in the list of contacts you can assign a gesture to. This is a known issue that the programmer is working to implement a fix. If you have this issue and want us to keep you updated, send us an e-mail at simplyapplied@gmail.com and we will let you know as soon as that problem has been resolved.
Also, if you have any suggestions, please let us know. We are currently working on an update to implement a few suggestions we've already received. The primary change will be to allow the user to set either call OR text as the default action. Hopefully that will reduce how often you have to select one or the other.
For anyone whose premium version of Sign has stopped working overnight or today, please download the update in the market. The issue has been identified and corrected. Thank you very much to those people who informed us of the issue. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Last edited by Simply Applied; July 12th, 2010 at 07:25 AM.
A quick update on the status of the fix for Sign not syncing with non-Google contacts. The programmer has resolved the issue and Sign is able to pull in non-Google contacts including EAS and other 3rd party contact databases. He is still in the process of optimizing it so that it runs efficiently; however, once he has that done, we will be uploading it to the market. Hopefully we'll have the updated version in the market at some point this weekend or early next week at the latest. Just a heads up for anyone who has been waiting for this issue to be resolved. We appreciate your patience.
Just a heads up that it appears the EAS contacts issue has been resolved. The new version was uploaded to the market this morning. If you are still unable to see your contacts or if you experience any other issues, please let us know so we can resolve the issue.
In addition to fixing the EAS issue, there are a few other features added to the new version.
The user can now set the default action to either call or text, depending on which they do more often
Sign now works as an app in addition to the original widget, allowing users to add Sign to alt-home/launcher docks (ADW Launcher, Launcher Pro and others).
Sign now identifies the Company/Organization name for contacts with no first/last name specified
Several UI/graphics-related changes
We're excited about the new update, and hope you enjoy Sign. The QR Codes for the full and lite versions are shown below.
We’re really excited about the recent review of Sign from the team at Best Android Apps Review, a great resource for discovering new apps. Some highlights from the review!
“Saves plenty of time and effort”
“Faster and more efficient”
“beautiful implementation”
Interesting - it seems that Droid X's post was deleted when the site was down yesterday.
Droid X - Thanks for the feedback. We're always looking to know how the recognition is working for people so we can make adjustments.
We are also looking at making the signs map to a specific action; however, we are considering how to do that and also keep it simple who people who don't want to have different Signs for the same person. It will probably end up being an option the user can select when assigning the gesture to the contact.
We were finally able to get the graphics incorporated and updated in the market in the last few days. In addition to revising the graphics, we also added a feature to go directly to the homescreen after a call is ended. Hopefully this will prevent accidental misdials from the Call Log screen.
We aren't done adding features - we're going to implement some user control over the recognition, allow the user to save multiple Signs for each number to improve the recognition, add email, add the ability to assign gestures to apps or other shortcuts, etc. As always, we welcome suggestions, but these are just some of the features we are going to be working on over the next several weeks/months.
Here's a few screenshots - its tough to get the timing down to get the actual "Signs" in the screenshot, but there's a few.
Check out the latest review for Sign from PocketNow. He discusses Gesture Search and GestureCall before talking about Sign just after the 5 minute mark.
Just as an update, we're currently in the process of allowing multiple Signs for each contact which is the first step in allowing the Sign to dictate whether its a call or text. Also, we're looking how to improve the opening speed, as well as add the ability to open apps/shortcuts.
The most recent update to Sign is now available, and its faster than ever. Version 2.3.6 speeds up the time to launch the app and also allows Sign to be opened/used even when other apps are already open. With the optional "Quick Startup" option enabled, Sign can be accessed through the notification bar at all times. Quick Startup also means Sign opens immediately - no hesitation.
We know people are concerned about battery life issues and having processes running in the background slowing the phone down; however, we specifically designed the Sign Quick Startup to prevent impacts to the battery life or phone performance. In fact, our testing indicates that Quick Startup doesn't use any additional battery power or have any impact on the phone's performance.
We've also updated the Settings menu and tweaked graphics to improve the overall appearance, as well as fixed some reported bugs with the assigned gestures database which was causing issues on some phones.
Give it a try - the Quick Startup makes a big difference in the time to activate the app and its very convenient to have Sign accessible even when other apps are open.
We still have a lot of updates planned, so stay tuned. If you have any comments or issues, just shoot me an email at chris@simplyapplied.com.
In celebration of the 4th of July, we've temporarily reduced the price from $1.99 to $0.99. The lower price is currently available in the Android Market and we're waiting for approval from the Amazon Appstore.
Sign is still on sale for $0.99 in the Android Market and Amazon Appstore. However, in an effort to make Sign even better for our users, we're considering removing the 3 contact limit from the free version (Sign Lite) and making it ad-supported. Let us know what you think.
Device(s): Samsung Captivate, 2.3.3, Serendipity VII
Thanks: 174
Thanked 210 Times in 164 Posts
I've purchased this one, sounds interesting! I voted, too - I hate ads, so I voted to leave the free one to three, no ads.
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Ann, Palm refugee, learning to grok Android. Perhaps your answer is in the CapFAQ Excellent video tutorials, watch and learn!! Now on Serendipity VII, click link to learn more Did you read the first post in the thread?
I've purchased this one, sounds interesting! I voted, too - I hate ads, so I voted to leave the free one to three, no ads.
Thanks for trying out Sign and voting! I tend to agree with you on no ads, which is why we originally released it that way. However, there have been quite a few requests to remove the 3 contact restriction, so we're looking at ways to do that while still providing some incentive to purchase the full version, which helps us pay the bills!
Just an update. We added Dynamic Sign Recognition (DSR) in the last update which means that you don't have to select call or text anymore. The screen is divided into two sections. If you start drawing the Sign on the top half of the screen its a call, and if you start the Sign on the bottom half its a text. Just turn DSR on in the settings. We're modifying the graphics to make them more clear when using DSR, so hopefully we'll have the new graphics updated this week.
If you prefer the old way, just turn DSR off.
Also, we've added an opaque background option instead of the transparent background, as well as added the option to change the color of the signs.
Thanks for all of the feedback and suggestions.
If you don't already have Sign, you can download it from the Market by scanning the QR code below.
New Speed Dial App - Sign ***reduced price***
